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Detective Comics Vol 1 2
Supporting Characters: * Antagonists: * fake attorney ** his fake labor union *** Nick *** Tony Other Characters: * Sgt. Kelly ** small army of cops * Pete Graves, steelworker * Betty Graves * Bradley's irate neighbors Locations: * ** vacant lot ** Police HQ ** Bradley's apartment ** Churchill Garage, 5323 Shaw Street ** Jinx Tower, half-constructed Vehicles: * Bradley's Small Racing Car | Writer2_1 = Homer Fleming | Penciler2_1 = Homer Fleming | Inker2_1 = Homer Fleming | StoryTitle2 = Buck Marshall, Range Detective: "The Sage City Bank Holdup" | Synopsis2 = The Sheriff tells Buck about the Circle B Ranch, owned by Jim Bower, which was just foreclosed on by the local banker, and adjoining ranch-owner, Mr. Taft. There had been an unexplained explosion, at the beginning of a recent drought, which had busted Bower's dam and drained his ranch's water supply, which led to the Circle B going bust and defaulting on the mortgage. Buck Marshall rides out to investigate. Along the trail, Buck finds a young, dead cowboy, shot in the back, and his pony, grazing nearby. On the pony is a money belt, with $2000 in it, belonging to J. Taft, Sage City. Buck brings the money belt and leads the pony but leaves the body there, and rides toward Sage City. He spots a rider, who as soon as he is spotted turns and rides away. Buck doesn't chase him, but follows the same trail, soon arriving at the site where the rider had been. Buck realizes that he had been spied on for a long time, long enough for the rider to roll and smoke a cigarette, in brown paper. Buck rides on to Sage City, and gets there in the late-afternoon. He calls at the bank to meet Mr. Taft, but inside the bank both men are jumped, and Buck is knocked unconscious. When he recovers, the money belt is gone, his six gun is still on him, and Taft is nearby, tied up. He frees the banker, and they converse. Taft blames the robbery on Red Jack and his gang, someone Buck knows from Arizona. Sure enough, across from the bank, as Marshall is mounting up to leave town, Red Jack himself shows up and quietly advises Buck to meet him, outside of town. Red Jack owes Buck Marshall a life-saving favor, from an earlier encounter, and when they meet, Red tells Buck to get out of town before he's dead, for the kid he found was Jim Bower's son. Red rides off and Buck, after riding one more mile north, circles back to town, arriving after dark. He dismounts and walks thru town, until he spots Mr. Taft's assistant, from the bank, arguing with a Mexican cowboy. They go inside the bank, and from a window, Buck eavesdrops on them. After hearing the Mexican mention the money belt, and seeing him roll a cigarette in brown paper, he bursts in. He's got both of them covered and disarmed, when Taft bursts into the room, pointing his revolver at all three of them, and gloating. But right then, the town Sheriff shows up, and fires a shot thru the window, to put Taft on the spot and arrest him. Buck and the Sheriff reconstruct Taft's scheme, and the Sheriff reveals that there's a reward due to Buck, for capturing Taft's Mexican henchman, the notorious Black Pete. | Appearing2 = Featured Characters: * Antagonists: * Mr. Taft, rancher and banker ** his bank assistant ** his Mexican assassin, Black Pete ** his cow hands Other Characters: * Sheriff of Sage City * Jim Bower, Circle B Range Owner * young Bower, Jim's son * Red Jack Locations: * Western United States, ** Sage City *** Sage City Bank ** Circle B Ranch ** Taft's Ranch * Arizona | Writer3_1 = Bill Patrick | Penciler3_1 = Bill Patrick | Inker3_1 = Bill Patrick | StoryTitle3 = Gumshoe Gus: "The Disappearing Duck" | Synopsis3 = Gumshoe Gus, police detective, is on the case to find Old Man Beekman's pet duck Gloria. After searching high and low, he finds a note, from Gloria, attached to an overhead light. She has gone to Hollywood to be with Donald Duck. | Appearing3 = Featured Characters: * Gumshoe Gus Other Characters: * Old Man Beekman * Cumming, Beekman's nephew, a twin * Goeen Beekman's nephew, a twin Locations: * Police HQ * Beekman's Mansion * Hollywood | Writer4_1 = | Penciler4_1 = Creig Flessel | Inker4_1 = Creig Flessel | StoryTitle4 = Bret Lawton: "The Peruvian Mine Murders (Part 2)" | Synopsis4 = Ten days have gone by and the mysterious murders continue; now eight mine workers are dead, and the remainder are ready to flee the place. The ninth victim, Tanta, dies right next to Bret Lawton, with no clue whatsoever as to how. Bret hunts relentlessly for the stealthy killers, and old Pedro, an Inca mine worker, guides him. Out in the bush, Pedro is stung by something, he can't see what, but thinks it's a spider; Pedro pulls a big knife and lops off his own finger right there on the spot! Lawton helps him tie up the wound, and examines the severed finger with a magnifying glass. But whatever he finds, it's suddenly moot as a squad of spear-wielding Inca tribesmen emerge from the bushes to surround and capture Bret and Pedro. Bret and Pedro are buried up to their necks and daubed with honey, to be devoured by jungle ants, but Bret has poured a ring of cyanide, from his chemical kit, in a ring around the spot where they are placed so the ant attack is stymied. Luckily the tribesmen haven't stuck around to watch the deaths of Pedro and Bret, and also luckily Tom Bradley soon finds them and digs them out. They track the tribesmen to an old ruin in the jungle, where their leader is alone, and Bret punches him out. He turns out to be Spider Malone, an expatriate American gangster, who had been using a blow gun and some very strong venom to terrorize the mine workers. | Appearing4 = Featured Characters: * Supporting Characters: * Tom Bradley Antagonists: * Spider Malone ** Tribal Incas Other Characters: * Tanta * Pedro Locations: * | Writer5_1 = Russell Cole | Penciler5_1 = Russell Cole | Inker5_1 = Russell Cole | StoryTitle5 = "Room Fifteen" | Synopsis5 = On a bet with a hotel manager, one man enters as Mr. White, checks out, then enters as Mr. Gray, checks out, enters as Mr. Brown and then exits through the window, entering as Mr. Green, Mr. Blue, Mr. Black and many others who are "guests" of Mr. Brown's. When the Day Clerk and Night Clerk get talking their descriptions of each of the characters is the exact opposite. Things are settled when the manager reveals the entire thing to the clerks. | Appearing5 = Featured Characters: * One man who is Mr. White, Mr. Gray, Mr. Brown, Mr. Green, Mr. Blue, and Mr. Black Other Characters: * Hotel Manager * Day Clerk * Night Clerk Locations: * Hooper Hotel | Writer6_1 = Jerry Siegel | Penciler6_1 = Joe Shuster | Inker6_1 = Joe Shuster | StoryTitle6 = Bart Regan, Spy: "The Balinoff Case (Part 2)" | Synopsis6 = While Olga is pouring the drinks, (into one of which she has slipped a pill), Bart Regan, (disguised as Captain Markham), slips a little bronze statue into his pocket. After they toast, they hear the continuing fight of Sally and the Cabby on the street. Bart runs out to stop the fight and Olga realizes the statue is missing. She runs downstairs to stop Bart, but he and Sally are riding off in the cab. Sally confronts him and he again says he has no feelings for her. Meanwhile, Olga finds out that Captain Markham is a spy. Bart drops Sally off at her apartment. She, in a fit of anger goes upstairs and calls Philip Marsden, and tells him to come over. When he gets there she tells him that she wants to get married the next day. Meanwhile, Bart spends hours trying to figure out the Bronze statue. It looks Egyptian with hieroglyphics all over it. Then he reads the newspaper and sees the marriage announcement. He attends. | Appearing6 = Featured Characters: * Supporting Characters: * Antagonists: * Olga Balinoff * her unidentified boss Other Characters: * Phillip Marsden (wears a monocle) Locations: * ** Balinoff's apartment ** Marsden's mansion ** big church Items: * little bronze statue | Writer7_1 = | Penciler7_1 = Pete De Angelo | Inker7_1 = Pete De Angelo | StoryTitle7 = "Mail Order Murphy" | Synopsis7 = Murphy gets a mail order G-Man kit and starts snooping around. While sitting on top of a lamp post he spots a freshly baked apple pie in the window of a home, and while he goes to snatch it, he gets caught by the police and put in jail. He throws the mail order G-Man kit out the jail window. | Appearing7 = Featured Characters: * Murphy Other Characters: * Mail-Man * Police Officer Items: * G-Man Kit * Apple Pie | Writer8_1 = | Penciler8_1 = Ed Winiarski | Inker8_1 = Ed Winiarski | StoryTitle8 = Mr. Chang: "The Narcotic Ring" | Synopsis8 = Inspector Daniels, Chief of Detectives, has been making no headway against a dangerous narcotics ring, which has kidnapped two newspaper reporters and murdered at least one of his detectives. He calls in the famous private detective, Mr. Chang, who graciously accepts the case. With assistance from his valet, Wu, Chang conceals on his person a revolver, a dagger, and a hatchet, then sallies forth to choke some information out of a dope-addicted laundryman. From there he follows a white gangster to an old battered house in a deserted part of the city, and there he finds the drug gang, just then preparing to bump off their two kidnapped newspaper reporters. Mr. Chang interrupts this murder by shooting the gunman dead with a conventional revolver, and frees the reporters. Then a squad of gangsters converges on him, and Chang scatters them with his own secret stunning ray. The effect is only temporary, and the gangsters rally for a fight, and Chang gives them one, exerting herculean strength to fling them about the room. Meanwhile Wu has tipped off the police, so right then Inspector Daniels and a squad of cops charge in, guns barking, and drop enough thugs for the rest to give up. | Appearing8 = Featured Characters: * Supporting Characters: * Chief of Detectives Daniels * Wu Antagonists: * Narcotics Ring (at least eight gangsters) Other Characters: * Sing Lo, laundryman, dope fiend * Two Reporters * police detective * Daniels' squad of cops Locations: * deserted part of the city ** old battered house Items: * Chang's secret stunning ray | Writer9_1 = Sven Elven | Penciler9_1 = Sven Elven | Inker9_1 = Sven Elven | StoryTitle9 = Cosmo, the Phantom of Disguise: "The Olive Oil Counterfeiters" | Synopsis9 = In order to catch a band of counterfeiters who have already killed a policeman, Cosmo disguises himself as an old hoodlum, and infiltrates the gang. | Appearing9 = Featured Characters: * Antagonists: * Mr. Batini, counterfeiter ** Guiseppe ** Tony Morini Other Characters: * Police Chief ** Inspector Flint ** Officer Benson ** squad of cops Locations: * ** Batini Importing Company Warehouse ** 18 Lake Street | Writer10_1 = Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson | Penciler10_1 = Tom Hickey | Inker10_1 = Tom Hickey | StoryTitle10 = Bruce Nelson: "The Claws of the Red Dragon (Part 2)" | Synopsis10 = After a long car ride, and hearing several words in Chinese being spoken, the blindfolded Bruce Nelson is pushed out onto a countryside road, then the sound of the car travels off into the distance. When he removes the blindfold, Bruce is uncertain where he is, only knowing that a long hike back to the city awaits him. His attempts to hitch a ride with passing cars futile, Bruce walks until he finally reaches a gas station. The owner allows him to use the phone to call police lieutenant Casey, and to order a car to pick him up. Back at the Red Dragon restaurant, the police are now searching for any clues they could find, though the Chinamen that worked there are nowhere to be seen, and much of the evidence seems to have been cleared out as well. Bruce greets Lieutenant Casey on the scene, and Casey reveals that the couple who had been taken were retired German importer Erick Von Holtzendorff, and his daughter Ingrid. The reason why was still unknown, though Casey believes they might find further clues at the hotel room where they stayed. Questioning the hotel staff reveals one interesting piece of information: a Mr. Joseph Stucchi, who had visited the hotel several times before, had been seen talking to the couple about a half-hour before they were kidnapped. In his apartment the next morning, Bruce Nelson reads in the paper that Joseph Stucchi was charged with larceny but never convicted. The events of yesterday flash back into his mind as he recalls the Chinese whispering amongst themselves. Some words he was able to understand, particularly when they spoke of a house behind a guarded gate with lion sculptures. He knows of a place like that on Long Island, so off he goes to investigate. The walls around the home prevent easy entry for Bruce. But after circling the property, he finds an unlocked gate and enters into the main yard, where suddenly he comes face-to-face with a man with a dark mustache, pointing an automatic pistol in his direction! | Appearing10 = Featured Characters: * Antagonists: * Hong Ah Kay (not yet named) * Sing Dock (not yet named) * Joseph Stucchi Other Characters: * Lieutenant Casey Locations: * ** *** ** | Notes = * Published by Detective Comics, Inc. Cover date is April, 1937. ** At this time, More Fun Comics and New Comics were still being published by "Nicholson Publishing Co., Inc." However neither of those titles published an issue that month. * Last issue for Bret Lawton, by Creig Flessel. ** Bret's old friend is named "Tom Bradley" in this month's episode, and was "Tim Morgan" . * This issue, Bruce Nelson has his adventure in New York City, Flushing, and Long Island, New York, as noted in panel 14, Bruce's dialog, and panel 17, caption. , everything happened in San Francisco, as noted in page 1, panel 2, caption. * Buck Marshall gets head-konked unconscious with a pistol butt. * After this issue, comedy filler feature Gumshoe Gus by Bill Patrick drops out, to return in . * Mail Order Murphy has no dialogue and no captions. * First issue for Mr. Chang, which next appears in , then skips #5 and returns in . ** Mr. Chang shoots one gunman dead. * Slam Bradley's sidekick Shorty Morgan gets head-konked unconscious with a car-trunk lid. He seems to have amnesia afterward, but is faking. | Trivia = * Russell Cole signs his "Room Fifteen" story as "Alger" | Recommended = * Action Comics * Detective Comics | Links = * Detective Comics article at Wikipedia * Detective Comics series index at the Grand Comics Database }}